Pete Stark

Fortney Hillman "Pete" Stark Jr. (11 November 1931-24 January 2020) was a member of the US House of Representatives (D-CA 8) from 1973 to 1975 (succeeding George P. Miller and preceding Ron Dellums), from CA-9 from 1975 to 1993 (succeeding Don Edwards and preceding Dellums), and from CA-13 from 1993 to 2013 (succeeding Norman Mineta and preceding Eric Swalwell). He was the first openly atheist member of the US Congress.

Biography
Fortney Hillman Stark Jr. was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on 11 November 1931, and he served in the US Air Force from 1955 to 1957 before founding Security National Bank in 1963. He grew up a Republican, but his opposition to the Vietnam War led to him switching his party affiliation to Democrat during the 1960s. He went on to serve in the US House of Representatives from 1973 to 2013, and he became known for his standoffish personality; he was an early and vocal critic of the Iraq War and George W. Bush's presidency, insulting the administration in harsh terms; he also accused Connecticut congresswoman Nancy Johnson of being a "whore of the insurance industry" whose knowledge of health care came from "pillow talk" with her physician husband, claimed that Oklahoma congressman J.C. Watts' children were all born out of wedlock, and claimed that the moderate New Democrats were "brain dead" and pursuing a right-wing agenda when they proposed changes to the 2009 health care reform bill. In 2012, he was defeated for re-election by the younger Democratic challenger Eric Swalwell, and he died in Harwood, Maryland in 2020 at the age of 88.